SANTA ROSA >> In every way possible, Upper Lake’s 36-20 victory over Rincon Valley Christian on Saturday afternoon in Santa Rosa delivered encouraging signs that the Cougars’ fortunes in football are trending back up … finally.
If you’re making a list, consider this:
— Upper Lake had gone nearly three full calendar years (23 games) since last winning a game.
— It was the first varsity win for second-year head coach Frank Gudmundson, who endured an 0-10 season in 2014, and it came in Upper Lake’s eight-man football debut.
— The Cougars scored nearly twice as many points against Rincon Valley Christian as they did in their 10 games last season (19).
— Upper Lake passed for four touchdowns in a single game, which hasn’t happened in quite some time (the Record-Bee is currently reviewing records to find the last time it happened).
— Upper Lake answered its first taste of adversity not with panic, but with points. After Rincon Valley Christian cut a 24-6 deficit to 24-20 with 10:38 left in the game, the Cougars scored on each of their next two possessions to nail down the win.
— Cougar players, coaches and fans were all smiling after a game.
None of that was lost on Gudmundson, who couldn’t help but grin following a game that gave the Cougars – at least for a week — a share of the North Central League III lead. They’ll host another 1-0 team — the Calistoga Wildcats – next Saturday in their home debut.
“We have a lot of juniors and seniors on this team, but not a lot of football experience,” Gudmundson said. “We let them (Eagles) back in the game but these kids don’t panic … the house ain’t on fire. They responded. Did you hear anyone complaining on the sidelines like last year? No, we didn’t have any of that. This is a different group of kids.”
And about that King Kong-sized gorilla the Cougars have carried on their shoulders since last posting a win on the football field?
“We finally got it off our back … and it sure does feel good,” Gudmundson said. “When is the last time you saw that many smiles after a football game Upper Lake was involved in?”
A handful of players figured prominently in Upper Lake’s victory.
Quarterback Derek Pritchard, a junior transfer from Florida, completed eight of 12 passes for 99 yards with the aforementioned four touchdowns, two each to wide receivers Ray Gutierrez (four catches for 47 yards) and Isaac Nevarrez (three for 41). Running backs Andreas Santos and Jacob Kalawaia, who is only a sophomore and a younger and slightly smaller version of another former Cougar star in Joey Valdez, moved the ball on the ground for the Cougars — Santos with 92 yards on 14 carries, including touchdown runs of 28 yards in the first quarter and four yards in the fourth — and Kalawaia with 65 yards on 17 carries.
Upper Lake’s defense also forced four turnovers and sacked Rincon Valley’s quarterbacks three times.
The Cougars opened the scoring with 8:18 left in the first quarter on a 17-yard connection between Pritchard and Gutierrez. Santos’ first TD run made it 12-0. The two teams exchanged scores in the second quarter — Rincon Valley on a 16-yard run by Willie Maples and Upper Lake on Prtichard’s eight-yard pass to Nevarrez.
Upper Lake built its biggest lead after taking over on downs following Rincon Valley Christian’s opening possession of the second half. After converting a fourth-and-four play on a Kalawaia five-yard run, the Cougars pushed ahead 24-6 when Pritchard delivered a dart between a pair of Rincon Valley Christian defenders and into the waiting arms of Nevarrez, who raced untouched in the end zone from 35 yards out.
Rincon Valley Christian closed the gap in the final seconds of the quarter when Maples busted into the clear and steered his way down the Upper Lake sideline on a 35-yard touchdown run. The Eagles lined up for an extra-point kick but ended up with two points on a conversion pass that followed a low snap that bounced away from holder Cory Olson. He alertly picked up the ball and found an open teammate, Paul Bartholow, alone in the end zone.
Rincon Valley crept to within 24-20 when Upper Lake couldn’t get off a punt and turned the ball over on downs at the Upper Lake 26-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Bartholow scored on the very next play, scrambling into the end zone for the touchdown.
The Cougars calmly collected themselves and drove 46 yards in seven plays, the final one a Santos run to make it 30-20.
Upper Lake stopped Rincon Valley on downs at midfield — which is the 40-yard line in eight-man football (the field is only 80 yards long) — before putting the game away with a seven-play drive capped by Pritchard’s fourth TD toss of the game, a 22-yard strike over the middle to Gutierrez.
While the win was a pleasant change of pace for a Cougars program that hasn’t enjoyed much success in recent seasons, Gudmundson said the team has a lot of work left to do. Upper Lake misfired on all six of its two-point conversion tries and had trouble snapping the ball to its quarterback and punter on a handful of occasions.
“We have three centers and only one has much experience, so that’s definitely something we’ll be working on,” Gudmundson said.
They’ll also be spending more time working on their option attack given the success they had running to the outside against Rincon Valley Christian.
“We’ve been spending so much time getting the passing game down that we’ll try to concentrate more on running the option,” Gudmudnson said. “We’ll probably run it 1,000 times in practice next week.”
While Upper Lake’s coach isn’t predicting a championship in the Cougars’ first season of eight-man football in the NCL III, he’s not discounting his team’s chances either.
“The attitudes are great … it’s refreshing to be on our sideline after last year,” he said. “This is a special little group.”
